Stella Chen

American violinist Stella Chen is recognised as a thinking-person’s virtuoso, attuned to the telling details and contradictory moods of a wide repertoire. Chen came to international attention in 2019, after winning the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the latest in a series of contest wins since 2008, when at age 15, she was a fourth-prize winner at the Menuhin Competition. A native of Palo Alto, California, Chen developed early interests in music and science, and earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Harvard University along with a master’s in music from the New England Conservatory. She later received a doctorate in music from Juilliard, where she has become an assistant to her longtime teacher, Li Lin. Chen wrote her doctoral dissertation on Schubert’s Fantasie in C Major, a personal calling card that highlights the tonal lustre and subtlety of her playing. The piece appears on her 2023 debut album, Stella x Schubert. Chen is the recipient of a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.